


An Interesting Effect

by WhoGeek



Series: Mini-vengers [1]
Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Adult minds in child bodies, De-Aged Characters, Gen, My muses are Bastards, The Author Regrets Nothing, They are too adorable for words, Tony Stark is still Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-31
Updated: 2012-08-31
Packaged: 2017-11-13 06:22:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/500450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhoGeek/pseuds/WhoGeek
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony is working on something, and then it goes off, leaving himself and Steve in a rather odd situation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Interesting Effect

**Author's Note:**

> I was going through my Avengers links an sorting them into appropriate sub-folders when I came across a Tumblr link I had bookmarked. I told Shanachie that someone should write it. I didn't mean me. Therefore, I end up writing it.

Steve wanders down to the workshop with the vague notion of getting Tony to join the rest of the team for dinner. Tony has spent the last three days essentially secluded down in the workshop. Tony is bent over half-inside some kind of dismantled gun turret, Dummy's claw is somewhere inside the unit, holding something as Tony threatens the bot.

"Are you planning on coming up for dinner today?"

Tony jumps and there's the crackle of electricity arcing. "Shit. That's very bad. JARVIS, shut it down, now."

"Sir, it is not responding. Emergency lockdown is commencing."

"Fuck. Steve, get out of here." Tony squirms backwards out of the unit, but no way will he make the door before it locks down. Steve is already moving, and he grabs Tony and pushes him down, throwing himself on top as the unit whines to a stop for just a moment before a wave of greenish light blasts out of it. Steve has just a moment to realize they aren't dead and see the lights and screens go dark before he blacks out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Steve knows something is wrong even before he opens his eyes. His body feels as different now as when he first got the serum injected and became Captain America. He sits up and the change is suddenly obvious as his shirt sags around his body. He's _tiny_ now, chubby little arms and hands and fingers, his watch on the floor a little ways away. "JARVIS?" Steve startles at his own voice, small and young in the suddenly vast space of the workshop. "JARVIS? Are you there?" The lack of any sort of response from the AI is seriously worrying, and Steve turns his attention to Tony, still sprawled on the floor and the thing that's different becomes very apparent.

Tony is a child, somewhere around five or so, his black shirt huge on his now-tiny frame. Steve scrambles closer and shakes Tony awake. Tony lurches upright, one hand instantly going to the arc reactor before he pats himself down. "Well, we're not dead." Tony startles at his own voice and finally looks over at Steve. "The fuck did that thing do to us?"

"As far as I can tell, it shrunk us down to kid size. I estimate we're about five. Our minds are, as far as I can tell, unaffected."

"Oh, well, that's just perfect. JARVIS! What happened? What kind of readings did you get from that?"

The AI doesn't respond and Tony scowls. "I tried that. I think whatever that thing is, it knocked out a lot of systems."

Tony's scowl deepens. "How long do you think we were out?"

Steve opens his mouth to reply when Bruce, Clint and Natasha come down the stairs. Clint's bow is held at the ready and Natasha has several blades in each hand. Bruce looks nervous but he isn't tinged green at all, which is reassuring and his voice doesn't waver as he calls out. "Tony?"

"While I appreciate the cavalry riding in to save the day, is all the weaponry really necessary?"

All three of them startle and their attention drops down to where Steve and Tony are sitting on the floor. "We thought there was an attack. JARVIS started to say something about the workshop before he just... cut off."

Tony's eyes go wide. "JARVIS went down?" He scrambles upright and heads for one wall, muttering what sounds like nonsense to Steve's ears. He reaches up for a panel and when he can't reach it looks around, desperate and half-terrified. He grabs a stool and yanks it over so he can climb up and wrench the panel open. The panel thumps to the floor an Tony practically dives into the mass of wires inside. Within a few seconds there's a quiet hum and all the screens light up again.

"Twelve minutes until return to full capacity, Sir."

Everyone relaxes at JARVIS's voice, and Tony climbs down from the stool. "Good to hear your voice again, J. Did you get any readings before you got knocked out?"

"Regrettably few, Sir. Scans indicate that Captain Rogers and yourself are in good health, granting access to Agents Romanoff and Barton and Doctor Banner." The door clicks open and the three of them rushed in.

"Well, this is different." Bruce crouches down in front of Steve while Clint and Natasha check that the room is secure. "What do yo remember?"

"Are you asking about what changed us, or whether it changed our minds as well?"

"Cosidering the way you just answered that and what Tony did to get JARVIS up again, Doc wants to know what happened to change you." Clint grins as he drops his arrow back into the quiver and slouches against a mostly-clear work top.

Steve nods and straightens, the tactical part of his mind taking over. "I came down while Tony was working on that gun turret and managed to startle him. I heard electricity arc and the unit started to power up. JARVIS initiated a lockdown but Tony wouldn't have made it to the door before it sealed. I grabbed him and pushed both of us down in the hope that getting out of the direct line of fire would give us some protection. The unit... fired a blast of faintly green light that knocked out the lights, screens, and apparently JARVIS as well as the two of us. We woke up a few moments ago like this."

Bruce nods, already letting the scientist part of himself take over and analyzing the situation. "Natasha, can you get Pepper? Tell her we need a sealed lab with robotic interface. The lights outside the workshop weren't affected, so it can't pass through the lab shielding. JARVIS was probably knocked out for the same reason the screens all were. Interfaces are weak points. Clint, contact Agent Coulson, tell him we have a situation at the tower. We need to figure this out and fix it. Quickly."

The two nod and head out, leaving Bruce with his miniaturized teammates. "Hey! Who put you in charge around here?" Tony crosses his arms over his chest in an attempt to look important and intimidating. Steve thinks he just looks silly doing so, especially with the too-big shirt swamping him.

"The fact that I can pick you up without the Other Guy getting involved."

Tony looks totally blown by that, a similar look of shock on Bruce's face. "Tony. It's not like you can do things like normal. Let Bruce take over for now, he can focus on figuring it out and getting us back to normal."

Tony turns his scowl on Steve, but after a moment he relents. "Fine. Bruce, take Dummy. He's been helping me work on the turret, he can help you. Dummy, be good for Bruce." Dummy whirs over to Bruce, bumping against him a couple times. "No, no, no! Don't antagonize him! I said be good."

Dummy acts appropriately contrite and Steve can't help the giggle that escapes him at that. He claps one hand across his mouth as Tony and Bruce turn and stare at him. "Sorry. I couldn't help it."

"Right. Ok. We should head up to the residential floors, see about getting the two of you clothes that fit. Dummy, don't let anyone touch that turret without protective gear on. JARVIS, is the elevator working again?"

"The elevator is back online. Full recovery in two minutes, Sir."

Tony nods. "Good, good. Send any readings you got before and any you've gotten from us since coming back online to Bruce's tablet and computer. Make sure Pepper sets up a secure lab, oh, pull some personnel files of anyone you think could help him, SHIELD approved, of course. Make sure Pepper starts shuffling any of the important meetings around if she needs to. Most of them she can run herself though. And... let me know when she's coming to yell at me."

"Will that be all, Sir?

Tony sighs as Bruce manages to get them into the elevator. "For now. Keep my tablet connected to the readings." Tony sighs and runs one hand through his hair. "This is going to be interesting."

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you wondering, this is the link that spawned this whole thing: http://sekra.tumblr.com/post/20971954158/steve-rogers-the-only-man-to-ever-solve-de-aged


End file.
